Kingdom Hearts: Dirge of Twilight
by Kaishinn
Summary: 3 yrs ltr Sora and his friends whole worlds are about to be turned upside down all that they knew as truth, are revealed to be nothing but lies, those believed to be best friends turn out to be mortal enemies, secrets & betrayal r in rule.rating to change
1. A Beginning

Kingdom Hearts- Dirge of Twilight

Chapter -1: A Beginning

Prologue: It's been three years since the events that took place during the final battles with organization XIII, during those years Sora and his friends have been working for the King. Taking on different types of missions from exploration of old bases used by nobodies and Heartless, to exterminating large numbers of the two creatures whenever they so dared to invade towns.

Sora and company just recently received a message Donald and goofy explaining to them the current situation with Radiant Garden. Donald and Goofy paid a visit there and were immediately informed of a dire situation. They sent the later out to Sora as fast as possible. Sora and friends now waited for the two to come and take them to Radiant Garden.

~Destiny Islands~

Saturday: 9:35 am

* Sora's home*

Sora is sleeping soundly in his bed, the rays of the sun barely shining through his blinds, the silence of the room was broken by the loud ringing of his phone. "Ugh who's calling me this early; he groaned I know it's early in the morning. "He yawned as he looked at the clock resting on the small dresser where his phone stood on next to his bed. " Its 9:35 oh WAIT! emphasis on wait as it suddenly hit him.

"Donald and Goofy are supposed to be picking us up at ten aw crap-crap-crap; he palmed himself in the head, as he reached for the phone and hastily ran his thumb across the face of it, pressing the talk button he slaps the phone against the left side of his face.

"Hello"

He spoke groggily into the phone as he waited for a second for the person to respond, "Hey Sora I hope you weren't still sleeping... ugh I can't believe it you were weren't you" The female voice booming through the phone, " I'm sorry Kai I'll be there soon I promise. He got out of his bed and walked over to his fully body mirror as he told her.

"Well you better be here soon damn it don't think for a second that we wont leave you behind" He chuckled slightly at her statement come on now babe you know you wouldn't do that" he said with grin on his face, well see you when I get there. "Alright honey Love you" she spoke softly as she said it to him

"Love you too I'll see you soon bye, Sora hung up the phone then proceeded to stare at himself in the mirror, He only had on a pair of long shorts, staring sort of blankly into the mirror,he admired his build as he started to make flexing poses . "Oh yeah baby all that working out and battling really paid off "Sora your just too hot, heheh if you were any hotter the sun would stop shining for you out of jealousy. "He spoke confidently as he continued his little modeling show. His body has gotten more mass over the years although he still retained a small frame over all. "I have to fix my hair up first, hmm…I suppose cutting it was a good idea I can do a little more with it this way. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his comb and began to straighten his hair, running it through his spikes again and again; after he was finished he threw the combo to the side, "I guess it's sort of convenient that I sleep with that on me. Chuckling as he thought more about the fact that he sleeps with combs and the like on his person, he made one more pose in the mirror as he finally began to reach for his clothes he had already laid out the previous night.

*Hang out Island*

Riku sat on the side of the pier as he awaited the arrival of his friend, "Where the hell is he…he's late as crap that stupid idiot, Riku sighed in aggravation not believing Sora could be late for something important like this. Riku kicked his feet through the water a few times before standing up and stretching, He took a small and thin silver band out of his pocket and brought his hands up to the back of his head, he began to put his long sliver hair into a pony tail. After he was finished with his hair he began to walk away from the pier stopping for a moment because he thought he heard someone call his name; he looked over to his right and saw Tidus running over to him waving and calling out his name.

"Hey…Ri...ku..Riku I caught you in time…; Tidus was hunched over holding onto his knees with both hands, as he spoke while trying to catch his breath" I was afraid I would have been too late to catch you guys, He stood up straight having regained his breath. "What do you mean catch us… are you trying to say you plan on coming with us", Riku paused for a moment to make sure he understood completely. "Yeah that's right dude I do you guys have been going on adventures for a few years now and I've been stuck here doing nothing besides being the star of my schools blitzball team. Riku chuckled at Tidus because no matter what he is talking he always finds a way to toss in something about himself he feels makes him cool or great. "So this time I'm going to come along and see all the awesome things you guys do for myself, Riku's face frowned up a little as he thought about the idea of Tidus tagging along in this mission.

"Fine you can come but you better be useful to us or else. Tidus smiled happily at Riku excited he finaly gets to come along for the ride, he dances around Riku. "Don't worry man you don't think I have been only playing blitzball and hanging out here when you guys aren't around do you?. I have been getting sword training from my old man and he is really good at it so I know some stuff. Tidus spoke in a cocky tone as he closed his eyes and smirked. "We'll see about that come on we're going to go wait for Goofy and Donald to get here Riku said as he proceeded to walk towards the center of the island, where Kairi was already waiting with Wakka and his girlfriend Lulu. "Hey Riku did you see any sign of Sora yet? Kairi asked with a worried and slight irritated expression on her face. "Nope but don't worry I'm sure he will be here soon. As soon as Riku finished his sentence Sora landed in between him and Kairi , the force of his landing caused sand to blow all around, Kairi covered her face while Riku simply stared.

"Sorry I'm so late guys I got tangled up in some stuff and then my mom made me do something for her, he placed his right hand of the back of his head, rubbing through his hair he laughed nervously. "You're lucky they didn't come on the dot or you would have been left behind. Kairi began to fuss at him her arms waving around wildly as she barked at him. Unseen by the rest of them an transparent Namine stepped forth from Kairi; she placed her hands on her hips as she leaned forward towards Sora. "Well just what did take you so long. "Well it's not my fault its all his, Roxas came out of some in the same fashion Namine had come out. "You see when he hung up with Kairi the guy spent the next few minutes posing in the mirror and fixing his hair. Namine giggled as she thought about how silly Sora must've looked doing that.

"So yeah sorry that's kind of why we were really late, Roxas slid his hands into his pockets once he was finished talking. " I wonder if he does that everyday Namine asked with a curious look on her. "Well yeah mostly for the past 2 months he has been. "Namine then burst out laughing after she had heard that, "Man I gotta tell Kairi about this… see you later Roxy she smiled warmly at him as she faded back into Kairi. Roxas frowned at the pet name she had giving him as he faded back into Sora. After about two more minutes Kairi was done yelling at Sora he simply stared wide eyed at her, " I'm sorry I'll make sure not to let it happen again he frowned a little bit then smiled giving her a kiss on the head. " Kairi couldn't help but cheese at him before hugging and forgiving him. " Please be sure to not let it happen again, she was wailing on you so hard I started to feel like I had do something wrong and it was my head getting chewed off. Riku shook his head and missed around with his ears a little, they were still ringing from Kairis loud voice.

Wakka just laughed at the whole scene as his girlfriend just folded her arms and shrugged, Tidus made his appearance on the scene holding his head up high. "What are you so proud for? Sora asked him as he placed one had on his side. "Well I get to come with you guys now, Riku volunteered me…uh so to speak. " Really Riku you actually said he could come? Kairi questioned his decision but then quickly shrugged it off and turned away from the group she was now facing the sea staring out into the distance and up into the sky, looking out for their ride. Tidus held his sides and looked around cheerily "I can't believe I'm going on an adventure finally. And to think we being the oldest out of you three I would have been made sure I'd come along a lot sooner than now.

Riku just threw his hands into the air and shrugged, abruptly, quickly and without warning Sora came at Riku with a jump kick. "Whoa! Riku let out in surprise as he hastily side stepped Sora's attack. "What the hell is this all about Sora? Tidus stared in confusion; Sora hit the ground and disappeared from their vision, suddenly reappearing besides Riku in a crouching like position, Riku who had anticipated his move as to where he was already turning around to his right with his left leg up and cocked back. With a great amount of force he swung his leg forward bringing it up to Sora's face, who by now threw his arms up in an attempt to guard Riku's counter attack. "Gwoah! Sora let out a grunt as the blow made impact on his arms, the force of it caused Sora to slide away from the group along the sand a couple of feet. His feet dug through the beach until he finally stopped himself.

"Wow not a bad kick you got there Riku" Sora spoke confidently as he stood straight up to look ahead to see Riku, but to his surprise the sliver haired teen was no longer there. "What the hell" Sora couldn't tell where Riku had move to, the speed of his movement catching him off guard. "Gah! He let out a cry of pain as he felt a blunt force strike him in the spine. It sent him tumbling forward through the sand bouncing and twisting. As he did so Riku was standing there with his right leg extended outward with his foot turned to the side where as the tip of his shoe was facing the sea. Sora landed at Kairi's feet, the red head looking down at her lover in slight shock. "Heh I guess I'm still better than you Sora. The brunette looked up to see Riku standing in front of him, looking down at him with a sharp grin on his face.

"Ugh damn it all…there is no way your better than me by this much I thought I closed that gap a long time ago. Sora balled up his right hand into a fist and began to pound it into the sand a couple of times. " I thought I had you off guard for sure man; Tidus walked over to Sora with his hand extended towards him, after helping Sora up, he began to dust him off. " Thanks Tidus He said to his friend, as Tidus gave him a nod in appreciation as well. "Well that might have been true three years back when we fought the org13 and whatnot but. Since then you and I haven't sparred anymore and we both continued to grow in power from all our missions and unseen training I bet. But it looks like it has gone back to the good ol days of me being better. He chuckled and smirked as he looked Sora in the eyes.

"Well while you two were having your skirmish and stuff, some weird ship became visible in the distance, I think that's the people you were waiting for Yah? Wakka pointed the ship out to the group after alerting them of its presence. "Yeah they're finally here I can't wait to see them it's been a little while since we last saw them or the King. Sora said to Riku and Kairi. "Yeah it sure has no doubt about that, well it looks like they are ready to land, as Riku finished responding to Sora the gummi ship was now landing a little ways away from them. The ship looked completely different darker colors and decked out with new engines and wings as well. The loud noise of the booster caused Lulu to cover her hears, Wakka gritted his teeth together, neither of them used to hearing a sound that loud.

Moments later the shipped finally landed and powered down, the hatch on the side of the ship opened up and stairs extending out then slammed onto the sand, shortly after Donald hopped out of the ship followed by Goofy. Being the clumsy guy that he is, he lost his footing on the first step tumbling down and landing face first onto the beach. "Gowarsh… that could have gone better Ghyuck. Donald slapped himself on the head as he took a deep breath. " Aw brother… Goofy you really oughtta be more careful. "Yeah I know I'll be sure to be careful next time. Goofy proceeded to wipe himself off, he stopped for a moment and looked further down the beach Sora was running over to them. "Hey well would ya look at that Donald there's Sora.


	2. A Reunion

Hey guys after such a long time here's chapter two.. so yeah now we get to see some old friends and faces.

'

Chapter-2'

: Reunion:

-Sora ran over to Donald and Goofy laughing along the way, happy to see his friends.

'Goofy raised his right hand and pressed it against his head trying to block out some of the sun's rays that were shining down into his eyes as he looked into the distance.

"Well hey! If it isn't Sora Ah-hyuck its good ta see ya buddy; he waves with his left hand at him.

Sora ran up and jumped into Goofy wrapping both of his arms around his spine upon impact and started squeezing him tightly.

" It's good to see you too Goofy it's been a little while since we last saw each other, I've missed you guys; Sora tightened his grip around Goofy's spine.

Goofy's fingers twitched and his face began to turn blue as it puffed up, while he tried to breathe, Sora's hug had become too restricting.

"Uh Sora your hugging Goofy a little too tightly don't ya think?; Donald spoke out to him, placing his hands on his sides he walked over to the two and patted three times on Sora's back signaling him to let go.

"Uh yeah your right, he released his hold on Goofy and took two steps back; he shoved both of his hands in his pockets and shrugged; my bad Goofy.

" So Sora is everyone ready to go now I'm ready to get this thing going; Donald folds his arms, and begins to tap the ground repeatedly with his left foot his patience already starting to wear.

" Yeah I think so I'm pretty sure we can leave now; he turned his head to the right side, looking over his shoulder towards his friends who were already coming over to the ship.

-The gang approached the ship; Tidus was staring in awe shouting about how he has never seen such a cool and amazing thing. Wakka also showed great interest in the gummi-ship, Lulu simply stared in question wanting to know more about it just with a less eager attitude.

Tidus began walking around the ship sliding his hands along the top and sides of it, examining it, scanning it. "So this is what we going to travel in, wow this is nothing less than awesome!

" Huh you mean you're coming with us too Tidus? Sora lean his neck to the left looking at Tidus with a confused expression.

" Yeah I asked him to come along I figured he'd enjoyed a little time away from here Riku walked over to Sora and looked him in the eyes as he spoke. That's not a problem is it?

" Uh no it's ok…. Strange but ok; Sora looked up to the sky," it's cool

" I'm just as surprised as you are". Tidus shrugged as he responded to Sora.

" Alright so we know whose coming so can we go now before we are too late please? Growing tired of waiting; Kairi walked over to the ship groaning and sighing.

" Okay! Everybody lets go; Donald flagged the others to get on the ship he turned around and started walking over towards it, he stopped as he approached the Gummi ship when he saw that Tidus already sitting in the back of the ship looking at all of the lights and buttons.

" Well okay come on Kairi jump in: Goofy helps Kairi get inside then he follows in after her, taking his seat in the chair next to Donald's, after strapping himself he starts up the ship.

" Come on Riku; Sora jumped into the ship standing in place he takes a few moments to scan his surroundings smiling lightly he sits behind Donald and straps himself in.

" See you guys later:Riku says his goodbyes to Wakka and Lulu and jumps into the ship he walks to the back towards Tidus and sits in the seat next to him.

Kairi sat in the seat behind Goofy, pressing her fingers on her lap; she looked out the window... "We'll see you later Destiny Islands.

" Okay is every one strapped in" Donald leaned over in his chair and looked down the ale making sure that they were. "Ok Goofy he looked over to him: hit the button.

" Okay Hyuck here we go: he presses a button and the ship begins to hover and then slowly rise into the air.

-The jets on the wings began to fully power up creating a loud noise that the others couldn't stand; ignoring their pain, Wakka and Lulu stood and waved goodbye to their friends as the ship boosted off into the sky.

-'Warped Space'-

Gummi Ship

"Ok with the upgrades that were made to the gummi ship and by maintaining our current speed we should make it to Radiant-Garden in 1 hour you guys. Donald looked but quickly to see everyone as he spoke to them.

" Gwoarsh that's pretty fast wouldn't ya say we're gonna make record time"

" Yeah I guess your right that is fast"; Donald turned his head so he could face Goofy who was now giving him a big smile. Donald turned his attention back to the front he too was now smiling.

" An hour huh well I guess now would be a good time to start talking about your adventures eh Riku. Tidus looks to his left staring at Riku with a curious expression

" Yeah I guess so now seems like the only good time before we get there: he closes his eyes and breathes deeply. "Well alright I'll tell you.

" Yeah finally I get to know about it…It sure took long enough for anyone to tell me anything".

" Ok …. Riku placed his left thumb and index finger on his chin, his eyes shifted up as he started to recall some key moments of his journey, .so it all started when…

"Break out" (character description)

Name: Sora

Age: 18

Height: 5'9

Weight" 197

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Brown.

Clothing" upper body: Red and black sleeveless hooded coat with a black tank top underneath with a sliver crown symbol in the middle of the chest.

Hands: black and red fingerless gloves with a white triangle outline in the middle of them...

Lower body" a black belt with a sliver crown on the buckle, black pants with a red x going around the right leg and red shoes with black laces.

Weapons: Kingdom Key\Various others.

Status: Key Blade Master. (The king's left hand)

Name: Riku.

Age: 19.

Height: 6'1.

Weight: 203.

Hair color: Sliver.

Eye color: Green.

Clothing:

Upper body: a short sleeved hooded with a sleeveless blue shirt that has a black crown symbol on the right chest side.

Arms: Blue bandage tape on the right forearm and black bandage tape on the left forearm.

Hands: Black and blue fingerless gloves.

Lower body: Black belt with an X shaped buckle, black and blue cargo pants with three white lines going around the left leg, and black boots with white laces.

Weapon: The Way to Dawn.

Status: Key Blade Master. (The king's right hand)

­

-fall in-(return to story)

An hour later

" ok guy's looks like we are here": Donald pulled around the world a few times before he started to descend.

" It looks so different than before, there are lots of flowers and things around I wonder how they managed to do that much so quickly. Goofy rubbed the top of his head with his left index finger as he spoke, puzzled by the amount of progress the town has made.

" I don't know we should ask the others once we land; Donald response was the best answer he could of given to Goofy.

-The gummi ship started to fly towards the canyons that were now full of lush green grass and beautiful flowers; everyone looked out of the windows amazed ,not wanting to waste anymore time Donald hurried and landed on an open area right on the edge of town.

Outside the Town

-Everyone began to leave the ship one at a time, once out of it Kairi and Sora looked all around the area still staring in awe. Riku finished the last of the story while he Tidus, Donald, and Goofy walked towards the town.

Tidus looked back and shouted at the two who were still standing around "hey you guys…you'll be left behind if you don't pay attention.

" Hey wait for us! Kairi shouted as they both began quickly running towards the town in a hurry as to catch up with everyone else.

Radiant-Garden (Inside of the Town)

-The town was different from the way it was the last time they saw it, there was more people, more houses, and buildings now, and with even more of them still under construction The town was truly coming back to life.

The group made their way towards the town they were stopped as soon as they stepped foot inside."Why hello Sora it's been a long time, look how much taller and handsome you've gotten welcome back"

The group was greeting with a warm smile and open arms. "Aerith is that really you?" Sora shouted joyfully as he got a good look at the woman in front of them.

"Yeah it's me...I know you're probably surprised to see me not wearing a dress aren't you?"She throws her arms up and learns her body slightly to her left side; she placed her hands behind her head, giving them a good view of her body.

Instead of sporting a usual dress her dressing habits had gone through quite the change.

She wore a pink tube top that had a black rose surrounded by black thorns and veins on the front, the veins circled around the whole top, until they connected on the back of it. Her legs, thighs and waist had finally shown shape because she now wore tight black jeans, going around her waist was a pink belt that had a sliver wolf insignia as the buckle.

She wore black boots with pink laces, and on the right and left sides of her boots were smaller sliver wolf insignia's. Her body has seemingly passed the shy stages and has done some last minute developing her breast were a lot fuller and actually took shape under her top, her thighs and waist were a little more detailed as well.

Aerith giggled and winked as the men all stared at her, scanning her body." I know what you're all thinking….Aerith you've got really hot right. For any of you wondering my measurements I shouldn't exactly tell you but it's that big of a deal I guess, my cup sizes is 34'D.

She pulled her arms down and brought them to her sides sliding her hands into her pockets.

Sora and Tidus stared at her mindlessly; their jaws hung low their mouths were wide open; Kairi smacked Sora hard in the back of his head and sighed. "Ow why'd you do that Kairi…that hurt; he placed his right hand on the spot where she smacked him and began to rub hastily.

"Well everyone I think we all stood here for long enough so how about I take you guys back to our house so you can see everyone ok?' Just then a melody began to play, the source of it was revealed when Aerith pulled a cell phone out of her left pocket, she looked at the screen to see who was calling.

"Damn its Yuffie…Shit; she slid the phone open and pressed it to her ear. "Hey Yuffie what's up, her phone volume was apparently set to max because everyone could hear the voice coming out of the phone. "Hi Aerith I'm getting pretty close to your house…and I wanted to know did Sora and company get there yet?

"Yes Yuffie they are here, I was just about to bring them back to the house now. "Oh ok but you should let me say hi to Sora". Yuffie your going to see him at the house so just wait your probably get there before us so just chill and wait for us.

"Aw but I wanted to say hi now…no fair." Yuffie I'm going to hang up now we'll see you at the house. "Aerith you're really cold sometimes did you know that hmm?

"Goodbye Yuffie; Aerith ends the call, sliding her phone closed and shoving it back into her pocket; she turns her back to the group and begins to walk forward." Come on everyone follow me"; she places her hands behind her back and locks her fingers together, walking faster she began to hum.

Sora and the others followed after her in a hurry as she has already begun to leave them behind. "I can't believe we're actually going to get to see them again after such a long time…man I'm so excited!. Sora laughed as he throws his arms into the air almost like he had obtained a victory, he certainly was very eager to have a reunion.

Aerith's and Cloud's house

Aerith brought everyone back to her house after bringing them all inside she directed them to the room that they made their groups new HQ, that's the room where everyone was waiting for them. The grouped were amazed at the size of the house but even more amazed at its beauty.

Sora didn't feel like stalling any longer so he and the group headed for the room, it was finally time to see old friends again and learn of the problem they think they have on their hands.

Moments later Aerith decided to go follow after them, the second she took a step her doorbell rung. "I wonder who that is everyone that was supposed to be here today is already here…I'm pretty sure Yuffie has already made it.

Aerith walked over to the door, placing her left hand on the knob she twisted and pulled; slowly she opened the door. "Hello may I help you?, right then as she got a look at the person standing in front of her a look of shock and fear struck her faced.

Aerith gasped as she brought her right hand up to her lips. "You…?

**Ok that's it for this chapter... yeah I know a total cliffhanger.**


	3. The Mission at Hand and The old Flame

I decided to make this the final title, because it fits the story so well, there is going to be a lot of light and darkness in this story, maybe even a lot of death.

Dirge of Twilight (FINAL TITLE)

Chapter-3

The Mission and the Old Flame

Aerith gasped as she brought her right hand up to her lips."You …but why" Her words were spoken so low that they were almost whispers. The person that stood in the doorway gave the shock stricken woman a nod and smile. He slowly walked passed her and stepped into the house, stopping about 2 feet away from the woman and the door. He looked around the house seemingly very impressed by the size of it.

"This isn't a bad place you got here" he says calmly as if nothing was wrong with the current situation.

Aerith slowly pushed the door, when it closed she turned around hesitantly, hoping that somehow he wouldn't be there. When she fully turned around to check, she saw that he was staring at her with a sharp grin; she placed her hands together and opened her mouth to speak. But she was stopped when he raised his left hand and started to reach into one of the pockets on his shirt.

-Command Center-

Sora and company stood in front of a set of big metal doors, on the wall on the left side of the door rested a control panel; besides the glowing buttons and input screen, some weird scanner was also present. "Well do we input some type of secret code or say something… ya know like a password" Goofy scratched his head as he pondered, those were the only things that it seemed possible.

"Why don't we just press the button right here"; After looking at the glowing blue orb on the right side of the door, Tidus suggested what should have been the obvious course of action to take. Before Tidus could press the button, a beeping sound came from the other side of the door and they began to open.

Soon after a figure shrouded in black clothing came walking out of the room and stood in front of the group who were all staring. A smile slowly began to creep up on Sora's face. "Leon it's you!" Sora shouted excitedly as he laid eyes on his good friend that he hasn't seen in years.

"Hey Sora it's been three years since I've last seen you"; he spoke in a deep tone, as always Leon stayed calm and cool. "So I got one question for you…where the hell have you been!?" You promise to visit someone then you disappear for three years.

He's calm state of mind was shattered by the disbelief over his friends absence. Sora's smile quickly turned into a frown, "I know Leon it's just that I got caught up in a lot of stuff". He shoved one hand into his pocket, and placed his other hand on the back of his head.

"I'm sure you didn't mean to be away for that long so it's alright…but that doesn't matter you're here now and it's time we discuss the matter at hand so...follow me". Leon walked back into the room, all of others that Sora had met were there, but so were a few people he hadn't met.

Once Inside Sora and his friends stood still nervously, for the all the talking and shuffling around that was going on had ceased abruptly. "Umm so… is there something on our faces?" Shrugging and smiling lightly, Tidus jokingly spoke in an attempt to ease some of the fog of tension that was now suffocating the room; it was so thick that even Sephiroth wouldn't be able to cut through it with his Masamune.

After a few moments of silence, the sound of footsteps could be heard coming from somewhere in the back of the room. "Well Sora you finally made it here… it's been quite some time hasn't it?" A man stepped out of the dark end of the room; He had on a sleeveless white top that was halfway zipped up, white Shoulder armor covered his left shoulder, on the center of the armor was a sliver wolf head insignia, with a ring connected to the sides of its mouth.

His lower body was covered in a black robe; over the robe was a black belt with a big sliver buckle and straps attached to the sides. He had baggy black pants, with long pockets, and four hook straps going around the shins he had black laced boots on that had the same wolf symbol on the sides of them only they were like a label.

"Hey Cloud it's so good to see you again". Sora walked around the room; once he made it over to Cloud he extended his right hand. Cloud smirked as he took hold of Sora's hand with his own giving him three shakes.

"Come with me there are some people I want you to meet". Cloud threw his left arm around Sora's shoulder; He started to walk with Sora giving him a tour of the room and a look at some of the members of their group.

Sora was amazed by all of the high tech equipment; he turned his head around quickly to see what the others were doing. They were being introduced to all of the people by a woman; from what Sora could see the woman was Yuffie.

"Well I guess they will be fine without me" Sora noticed that Cloud had stopped walking and that they were standing in front of a man whose body was hidden by a black cape, that had a big collar with three straps and buckles on it that covered his mouth, he also had some sort of black head band.

Nothing besides the man's crimson red eyes and long onyx hair could be seen; his hair had spiky edges and one big bang that came down over the left side of his face.

"Valentine…" Cloud said to the man while nodding, I have someone here that I want you to meet". Cloud moved Sora so that he was standing in front of him; Cloud then stood in between the two of them." Vincent… this is Sora, Sora… this is Vincent Valentine".

"Hello Sora…It looks like I finally get to meet you" Vincent's voice was deep but it was to no surprise to Sora, from the man's appearance the way he sounded was expected, but his voice also has a strange calm to it. He brought his left arm forward, bringing it out of the cover of his cape; revealing his claw arm to Sora.

"Whoa cool gauntlet!" Sora said excitedly, he had no idea that it wasn't a gauntlet but his actual arm and hand. He didn't know anything about the man until just today; so Vincent found the boy's ignorance completely understandable. "Yeah it's pretty cool isn't it" He opened his hand and held it in front of him.

A smile spread wide across Sora's face, as he grabbed Vincent's hand shaking it. "Vincent gave him a nod, taking his hand from Sora's he turned around and walked away. "He seemed pretty cool; he's got that whole mystery thing going on" Sora said as he faced Cloud.

"Alright Sora now that you met Vincent, I have someone else you should meet come with me". Cloud walked over to a corner of the room, over there was a spiral staircase that went down, and a set of computers and giant monitors.

Standing by the monitors was a huge man, big in size and muscle. Sora looked at the man with a look intimidation he has never seen a man of this size before. But it wasn't his appearance that intimidated Sora. It was the sliver mechanical right hand he had.

The man takes his eyes off of the monitors and turns his attention to Cloud and the boy that was with him. "Oh hey there Cloud who's your friend …let me guess. his frames his chin with his left thumb and index finger.

"You must be Sora am I right?" the man smiled lightly as he guessed correctly, he knew that he did because he saw Cloud smirk. Sora reached forward with his left hand towards the man. The man smirked as he held out his right hand.

"Don't worry I'll be careful and make sure not to crush your hand". Sora chuckled as he took hold of the hand and shook firmly. The man smiled and made sure he kept a soft grip on the kid's hand.

"Barret…the name is Barret Wallace" he introduced himself to Sora, Cloud then turned around slowly and made his way over to the large table where everyone was sitting, there was a large screen and a 3d map-out of Radiant Garden being projected by a strange machine in front of the screen.

"Oh it looks like it's time to begin, come on Sora let's get seated". Sora nodded as he and Barret went over to the group and took their seats, Sora sat in between Vincent and Yuffie, while Barret Sat in between Tifa and a little girl.

"Huh who's that over there next to Barret" Sora said as he leaned over to his left asking Yuffie. She placed a finger over her lips insinuating that he should be quiet right now. Sora hushed and sat back straight, he turned his head to the right so that he could see the screen at the front of the room.

Cloud and Leon stood at the front setting things up, preparing to brief everyone on the current situation. The lights in the room went out leaving nothing to illuminate the dark expect the lights from the monitors in the other part of the room, and the big screen.

"Alright I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible, I don't want to take up too much time here, because other things still need to be done" Leon pressed a button on the side of the machine that was projecting the 3D image. A picture of a man that was in what appeared to be a Shinra soldier uniform appeared on the screen.

The image was a little blurry and the person was some ways away in the distance, but it was easy to tell the uniform because of the helmet. But to notice that the person has some connection to soldier wasn't the point here, something else in the picture caught Cloud's interest.

"Ok for all of us in the room that are familiar with Shinra, it's not hard to tell that this person is wearing a Soldier uniform. As Cloud spoke Leon pointed to the man on the screen.

"Here is what has captured my Interest, if you look to where Leon is pointing then you will see that the man has a black wing that protrudes from his left shoulder". Cloud turned his head back and looked at everyone at the table.

"I believe he could have a connection to Sephiroth; there isn't anyone else around with a wing like that". As from what I have seen that is unique to him, so there is no other possible reason for him... that soldier to have a wing like that.

"But what would a Shinra soldier be doing here anyway, I didn't think any of them were left, let alone any of them survived when our world was wiped out" Tifa spoke softly as she sat there, arms folded and fingers tapping against them.

"My thoughts exactly that's another thing that I was thinking about, Sora… The reason why we asked you and your friends to come was because we need your help" Cloud spoke calmly but firmly.

"There have been reports of kidnappings and attacks happening all around the town, Factories being destroyed among other things. Each time there has been a Shinra soldier at the scene". Leon shoved his hands in his pockets as he explained the situation to Sora and his friends.

"But only recently have these Soldier operatives have been reported to have been seen with a black wing". Cloud clinched his fist in anger, as the thought about the attacks.

"I thought that Sephiroth was undoubtedly behind it all as well that is until... until I received this video from one of our men of a man that was seen leaving one of the scenes with a group of soldiers"; Leon pressed another button and a video started to play on the Monitor.

_There was a burning building, fires were spreading everywhere, in front of the building was a man standing in the circle formed of soldier's, he appeared to be tall; his hair from what could be seen of it was brown. He had a coat almost similar to Sephiroth's yet it was red instead of black. His back was towards the camera so his face couldn't be seen, but there were two items in his hand, in his left hand there was a book and in his right was a thick crimson bladed sword._

What caught every ones attention was the long giant black wing that sprang with the man's left shoulder, as he took off into the sky with great haste. The soldiers released their wings and followed after him. The video ended a couple of seconds after that.

Cloud stared blankly at the screen; "who the hell was that?" He said as he looked over to Leon who by the look on his face was just as confused as he was.

Having now found out that this new man in the picture was the one who was behind the attacks, threw off Clouds whole game plan; Sephiroth wasn't responsible. The mystery of the black winged soldier was solved with the appearance of this giant black winged man.

"Well it's apparent that we need more information on this man, Sephiroth wasn't the one responsible after all, and so now this meeting is now over. New Intel was needed on this new man, so with the original bases of this brief now invalid ending the meeting was the only thing Cloud could do.

"Cloud begin to drift into his thoughts, he knew that the best source of information he was going to get on this man was from Sephiroth. Something inside of him told him that it was the best thing to do. He stared at the screen blankly as he slowly began to zone out.

"Hey Strife let's get out of here everyone has as already gone, and I want to begin looking for clues on this guy as soon as possible. Leon slammed his right hand down onto Clouds shoulder, snapping him out of his mind trip.

Cloud nodded and turned around; everyone else had indeed already left and was standing outside of the room talking. Cloud kept his arms at his side, sighing he turned his head to face Leon.

"Yeah you are right I've got a feeling that things are going to get real complicated now that we have this new character on the playing field, but before we leave I have to check on Aerith...I'm...I'm getting this strange feeling.

"Oh really well then first we will go see what's up with Aerith and then we will create the teams, and began. Cloud and Leon left the room; hitting the button as they left out the doors began to slide closed. Cloud immediately headed to the front door. He could feel that's where Aerith was, he and her had a strong bond so they could always feel where the other one was.

When Leon and Cloud made it to the large room they saw Aerith sitting on a couch next to a strange man. The both of them were laughing and smiling; Aerith stood up as she noticed the two of them.

"Hi Cloud guess who's here you will never believe it" she had a big smile on her face, holding her hands together she giggles. Cloud stared with no emotion as he noticed who it was, the man stood up and smirked.

"Hey Cloud I bet you thought you'd never see me again huh" He laughed a little bit as he asked the question. Leon looked at Cloud who was staring with his lips parted, it looked like he was trying to find the right words to use.

"What the fuck… ZACK!? But your dead….you died... I saw you die... I was standing right there speaking with you until you bled out, how you could possibly be alive"; Zack laughed at Clouds response, he wasn't surprised at all if he were Cloud he would have reacted the same way.

"Well I'll get around to the details later but just know that I was just as surprised as you are now by the fact that I survived after all of that. I've been doing a lot of thinking and recovering, and I decided that it's been long enough so I decided to come see Aerith and you. Don't bother asking me how I got here or found you guys; he shoved one hand into his pocket as he finished talking.

Cloud smiled as he was happy to see what he would consider one of his best friends to be alive and well… but after looking at him and Aerith, He suddenly remembered who he was to her. Her first love and he was sure just to see them again wasn't Zack's only reason for showing up here.

To Cloud and Zack the whole room became dark only the two of them remained visible, Cloud felt a sharp cold pain in his chest as the gravity of the situation began to hit him. Aerith used to talk about Zack a lot and about the feelings she had for him, she has never forgotten what they once were.

Leon Stared at Zack then turned his attention to Aerith and Cloud, thus he began to switch his eyes constantly looking back and forth at them. Cloud used to tell him about Zack, about who he was, and what he used to be to Aerith.

"Well this is Interesting wouldn't you say Aerith?" Leon focused his sight on her as he crossed his arms; He waited for her response.

"Why yes Leon this is very interesting indeed, I never knew Zack and Cloud at the same time, so I'm interested in finding out how they act when they are together in the same place.

Leon smirked as he saw the grin on Zack's face and the concerned and unattached look on Clouds, he changes his view from Zack to Cloud a few more times until he closed his eyes and chuckled, he then parted his lips to speak.

"Humph well…let the games begin"

Ok that's it for this chapter, yes there is going to be a lot of drama going on now and this is only for Cloud's situation so expect lots more later on beside just this, and if you noticed I made the ff7 characters have more ff7 related stories. While they still have the altered KH version of their story. I updated this chapter because an important someone was looking forward to it so I decided not to make her wait any longer. So I will be updating frequently more now..well I'll do my best to

I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope you check out the one's to come after this.

Later for now

Review if you want.


	4. Keeping Composure

**Dirge of Twilight**

**Chapter-4**

**Composure**

"Hump…well let the games begin"

Leon spoke in amusement as he thought about the things that may start to go down now that Aerith's first lover is back in the picture.

The onyx haired man grinned sharply as he stared at the confused blonde. Clouds Blue orbs shifted from the left to the right as if he was scanning various things; he was completely analyzing the whole situation.

The room stood quiet until Zack took a deep breath, smiling he parted his lips breaking the silence. "Well I think it's about time I get going now"

"But wait you only just got here, you sure you have to go so soon?" Aerith looked softly at Zack with a hint of disappointment in her face; she held her hands together showing that she would be willing to plead for him to stay a little while longer.

"Trust me Aerith there is nothing I would love to do more than stick around and do some catching up with Cloud, and be introduced to some new people. He shot a look at Leon who gave him a nod in return.

Zack began walking to the front door he shoved his hands into his pockets as he did. Aerith followed after him and stopped as he opened the door and stepped out; she stood at the door looking at him with sad eyes. "Are sure you can't stay just a little longer... if not then when well you come visit us again"

"Yeah I can't I got some things to take care of... If I could stay a little longer and marvel in your radiant beauty I would gladly. Aerith felt her cheeks burn as she blushed and smiled lightly.

Leon looks at Cloud and does a motion like he was shooting a basketball" Swish" he whispers to Cloud "two points for Zack. "But don't worry about it I'll come see you guys soon Zack said to her baring a smirk on his face." so long Cloud and um... guy.

Zack pulled a card out of his pocket followed by a pen, he began to quickly right on it; Once he was done he handed the card over to her. Aerith took the card and began to read it, as she did a smile formed on her face.

"_My cell number, call me at anytime, I'll always answer you I hope you have some stories to tell._

"Ok Zack I sure will call you and don't worry there is lots of interesting things I have to fill you in on" She gave him a warm smile.

Zack smiled and nodded before turning around and strolling off; Aerith waved a little bit and then slowly closed the door.

Cloud clinched his left fist then walked away, he walked back towards the other room where the others were talking and waiting.

Leon stared at Aerith who was looking into space for a bit, before he scuffed and followed after Cloud. Once back there Cloud and Leon had everyone stand in a line so they could pick the teams, they were determined to find out any new information as soon as possible.

Alright Strife you pick the teams this time, he crossed him arms as he after speaking but he kept his gaze on him."Alright Squal if you say so", alright this is the way we are going to do this, the groups will mostly be composed of four people".

He rose his right arm up and held it outward, his index finger pointed at the one he was going to select. Every one stood straight up and stayed silent as they awaited the group call outs.

"Team-1 will compose of as named.

1." Sora," he then pointed to the person next to Sora and paused.

"Riku... my name is Riku" he slide his hands into his pockets after introducing himself.

Cloud nodded "Alright Riku you will be with Sora" He then pointed to the two toned hair colored teen next to Riku.

"Oh... you're pointing at me; Tidus pointed to himself as he realized…. "My name is Tidus the awesome, or you can call me "Tidus the great or "Tidus the God of Blitz Ball, or "Tidus Master of the sword arts", or you can just call me"… "Or i can call you...Tidus I can just call you Tidus". Cloud interrupted him before he could state another name.

"Ok then Tidus you're on the same squad as Sora and Riku. "Who else do we have that I can put with you guys"; the blonde looked around, looking down the line from the left end to the right end.

Before Cloud could speak again a woman came over from the other side of the room, and stood next to Leon, she had on a black dress with black shorts that were visible because the dress was cut, she hand long leather boots on her feet with sliver buckles, and a sliver bangle on each wrist.

"I'm going to go with Squal of course" Cloud turned to her and Leon, "Hey babe Leon said as he leaned over and gave the woman a kiss on the cheek.

"Riona? I didn't think you were coming with us; well team two will be Riona and Squal. Cloud closed his eyes and held them shut for a moment, opening them again his expression changes it returned to that disconnected look he had earlier.

"Let's hurry this up" Cloud spoke with emotionless words, looked at everyone again and began to start calling out names one after another.

"Team 1".

Sora

Riku

Tidus

Yuna.

"Team 2".

Leon

Riona

Paine

Barret

"Team 3.

Vincent

Yuffie

Rikku

Donald

Team4.

Cid

Shera

Goofy

Team 5.

Tifa

Red head girl

Kairi raised her hand and waved trying to get Cloud's attention; he looked over to her and stared. "Um my name is Kairi just so that you know how to address me from now on". The blonde simply nodded and smirked.

"I'm sorry my mistake, team five will be formed of Tifa and Kairi." Kairi smiled at him and giggled, "That's much better" she said to him.

"As for me…I'll be going alone" Cloud began walking away after he finished talking, his head hung low and his fist were clinched tightly; every one stood with their groups and watched him leave. "I wonder what suddenly got into him...something's not right" Tifa spoke softly, crossing her arms a look of determination fell on to her face.

Cloud made his way back to the front room , where he saw Aerith standing by the front door, she was staring at him; Cloud shot her a look and smiled softly before walking towards the door.

"So you're going off alone this time huh" Aerith turned to face him as he opened the door, she sighed deeply then smirked.

" You should head out with Tifa and Kairi…where I have to go I have to go there alone it's for the best" Cloud stepped outside standing in front of the house he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Ok sweets I'll go with them then…just make sure that you come back to me unharmed alright"

Cloud nodded and began to float, as he hovered about 8 feet off the ground, he held his arms apart. He turned his head back to gaze upon her one more time. He then shot upward into the sky, the speed and power he boosted off with caused wind to blast around.

Aerith stepped back protecting her face, she held her arms up for a few more moments after everything calmed down.; She smiled and walked back inside of the house and went to find everyone else.

Everyone came into the main room, in their groups; Leon was now in charge in Clouds place for the time being, "Alright everyone lets head out, we need to cover a lot of ground and fast". He said as spoke to his friends who all simply nodded in agreement.

"Hey um... I'm going to join Tifa and Kairi…if that's ok" Aerith poked her fingers together, her eyes were closed and she was smiling lightly.

"Sure you can join with us we need a third person anyway" Tifa said as she placed her hands on her waist and smirked. ; Kairi giggled, she was glad that they had another hand to help out, everyone else were in teams of four and her and Tifa were going to be the only team of two.

Everyone left the house and stood in front of it, Leon crossed his arms, as he took a deep breath it was time to decide who checked where.

Cloud flew through the sky at sonic speeds; he was headed towards the valley, to pay a visit to which he considered to be the best lead on this case. "Well I hope he is willing to talk because I don't think I could fight him right now.

Moment's later cloud saw the valley over the horizon, and standing at the edge of a cliff was that man. Sephiroth stood there staring up into the sky, his long black coat shuffled in the heavy winds. Cloud landed a few feet away from him and stood firmly.

"Cloud… how nice of you to come and visit" Sephiroth speaks calmly as he turns around and faces his long time enemy.

"Sephiroth I need some information from you… do you know of anyone that sports a red coat similar to yours and has a giant black wing on his left shoulder". Cloud stared at Sephiroth's face closely, trying to see if he had any reactions at all.

Sephiroth's sharp green orbs shifted downward and begin to shift from the left to the right, almost as he was remembering something. Cloud knew by his reaction that he did indeed know about this person, now he waited to see if he would tell him anything.

"Well maybe I do know something of someone like him for… that man is…. a chapter of my past… I could tell you what everything you want to know but…first" Sephiroth lifted his right hand up and brought it down; you could hear the sword cutting through the air as he did.

"You'll have to prove to me that you deserve to know this information" if you're skills haven't retained their sharpness you will find you and you're in a dangerous situation". Sephiroth smirked as he took a little tighter grip on the hilt of his Masamune.

Cloud thought to himself… as he hesitantly reached for his blade, "_damn it I was hoping that it wouldn't come down to this, but there is no escaping it I have to fight_ _him_". Cloud grabbed hold of his sword and quickly pulled it out of its holder.

He wrapped both hands around the hilt tightly, taking his fighting stance he looks at Sephiroth who was now smiling at him intently.

"Well if that's the way you want it Sephiroth then so be… but I warn you I'm not in the best mood, so get ready to have your ass handed to you". With those words he dashed forward with great force, he rigged his arm back and down to the right.

"Well that should make things more interesting… let's see how differently you fight", Sephiroth's voice rose a little bit, but was still firm and calm; he stood in a free stance, since he was only holdings his sword with one hand.

" It's been a very long time since I fought wielding my sword one handedly… but that makes things worse for Cloud..Because I'll have to do a little experimenting". Cloud was a foot away from Sephiroth, he roared in anger as he brought his sword from the right side attempting to strike him with a fierce blow.

"Humph" Sephiroth smirked as he brought his sword down over to his right, his sword and Clouds clashed, sparks were flying everywhere. Cloud gritted his teeth as he tried to over power his opponent. Sephiroth merely grinned with amusement.

"Now Cloud…show me the true extent of your power"


	5. The battle, A rescue and The return

"Cloud you will show me the true extent of your power!"

Sephiroth and Cloud were now locked in a blade struggle; they stared into each others eyes as their swords began to heat up, the tension of the two heated blades began to cause sparks to fly all about. Cloud began grinding his teeth as he tried to overpower his opponent, He found himself being pushed back little by little at first then he was being completely pushed back, to where as his feet were sliding across the ground, Sephiroth began to push his sword up at an angle slowly lifting cloud off of the ground as he continued to walk forward pushing him back. "What's the matter Cloud?" are you having a bit of a hard time holding your ground?" He smirked as he began to taunt the now stressed blond. Clouds eyes gleamed with the light of mako as a smirk appeared on his face, he was now staring into the green cat like eyes of his mortal enemy who's eyes began to show an otherworldly glow in them.

Cloud pulled one hand off of the hilt of his sword and reached down to his left side, his digits feeling along the hilt of another blade; he then took grasp of his sword and pulled it out and swung it at Sephiroth's abdomen, The sliver haired man pulled his arm back and then swung it forward with a good amount of force that sent cloud flying away from him. Cloud started flipping backwards through the air until landing on the ground, his body hunched over as he stabbed down into the ground with both swords to stop himself from sliding along it.

Cloud halted his sliding along the ground completely, he threw his head up quickly to face Sephiroth but to his dismay he was no where insight. Cloud carefully scanned the area; he rested on his right knee as he brought his left leg out and stood his foot on the ground. The area around cloud went black as he became lost in his thoughts, not knowing where Sephiroth could approach from is a big problem.

" Disappear" As Cloud began to stand up he heard Sephiroth's voice and his eyes quickly opened wide with a shocking realization, in the darkness a thin light pierced through it from above cloud; the blond soldier hurriedly dashed to his left with a great force. Almost an instant after he moved Sephiroth slammed into the ground with tremendous force; his Masamune stabbing into it as he sat into a crater, the ground within 15 feet of it erupted with large spikes of stalagmite.

Sephiroth laughed as he crushed the ground beneath him, he smirked as a circular force of blue energy shot out from around him. It sliced clean through all the rocks with the after affects of it proceeding to completely crumble and blow them away. Cloud quickly stood up as he recovered from avoiding the first part of the attack; he brought both swords in hand in front of his chest in an X shaped fashion, he prepared to guard the attack he braced himself as the thin strip of energy crashed into his swords.

Cloud gritted his teeth as his feet dragged along the ground as the attack pushed him back; he let out a yell of frustration as he swung his blades away from his chest and disbursed the energy. The after effect of the attack on the other hand caught the Ex-Soldier off guard, the force that followed after the energy struck Cloud violently as it was blowing past him. He stood in place for a moment as his clothes hair, and even his cheeks blew wildly; he let out a short cry of pain as he was blown and carried away by the attack.

After flying through air for a good bit Cloud crashed into the ground dragging violently along it as his back dug into the ground pushing up rock and leaving a trail as he did. When he finally came to a stop he laid limp on the ground, his swords resting loosely in his hands; he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He felt it vibrating as he was tearing through the terrain. "It's a good thing that I wasn't on that side of my body, my cell is still in good shape. He answered his phone to find that Yuffie was on the other end she gave him the news that a little while ago she found a big clue and ran into some one from their past. He had a confused look on his face after she had told him that, before she hung him she told him to meet her at the great maw and that she would be calling the others.

Cloud closed his phone and put it away he looked into the distance towards Sephiroth who was now floating, rising out of the crater with his arms spread apart. Cloud looked at his own legs and chest his clothes were torn and dirty, he had some cuts on his arms probably gotten when he guarded the energy ring. He took a deep breath and sighed, " It looks like I'm going to have to dig a little deeper than this".

With those words a blue aura around spun around Cloud's feet and ignited around him a strong current of energy circulating all around. A giant twister of black and green energy erupted around Sephiroth, the sky began to darken the clouds twisting and shaping tendrils that reached all the way down to the ground and formed tornados.

Cloud had a bad feeling about this whole situation, he has never seen Sephiroth display such power it felt different from the normal he felt from him entirely; Cloud tightened his grip on his blades and burst forward at high speed flying towards his enemy at great speed, as he charged him his mind quickly ran back to the reappearance of Zack and what it could mean for his relationship with Aerith. He clinched at the thought of it and seemed to drop a level in focus.

Sensing the sudden change in Cloud's aura Sephiroth powered down causing the scenery to return to normal. Lifted his left arm up and brought his sword down quickly, Cloud sheathed one sword as he approached and guarded Sephiroth's attack with the one he kept out. Cloud was shocked at the fact that his opponent powered down, but not as shocked he was as he realized multiple slash wounds appearing on his body.

Blue energy slashes appearing all around Cloud who now was blocking rapidly, Sephiroth swung his sword two more times and with each swing six energy slashes appeared chipping away at the blond Ex-Soldier's sword. "What the fuck is happening" Cloud protested as he try his best to avoid being over whelmed; he swung his sword at Sephiroth's chest once he got an opening; Cloud gasped as he his enemy flew at him with blinding speed, he passed through cloud with his sword pointing out to the left.

There was a slight paused before Clouds body began to violently twist and turn as many lights began to appear all over his body, cuts appearing all over his body far faster than he could even blink. "Humph how pathetic Cloud Despite powering up you've actually gotten weaker, your mind isn't clear if you want information from me you will have to put up a better fight than this".

Cloud stood hunched over breathing hard with bloody wounds all around his clothes more shredded than before, he turned around and looked at Sephiroth one last time before boosting off into the sky. Sephiroth put away his blade before he disappeared in black smog. As Cloud headed towards the great maw, his phone vibrated again; he reached into his pocket and pulled it out, "Hello" he said without trying to sound like he was hurt. The voice on the other end told him that a comrade from the past was back and getting ready to tell them about where he has been. Cloud hung up the phone the great maw now over the horizon he started to descend.

Sometime before the battle.

During her travels around Radiant Garden searching for clues, Yuffie found herself on the outskirts of the town and onto the mountains and then down into the valleys, She walked along the cliffs as she continued to look for any sign of the mysterious man sporting the red coat or any of those weird one winged SOLDIER guys. "Man there's absolutely no sign of these guys anywhere ". She huffed and puffed as she began to get aggravated all the searching she has done and is still doing is bearing no results. She begin to sprint through the twist path ways of cliffs and down the long rock roads of the valley, trying to find some type of sign anything would do even a stray helmet.

"Ah come the hell on there has to be something I searched all over the damn place!" Her temper starting to flare and her patience beginning to really thin Yuffie found herself cursing things as she failed to find anything out. "Fine I'll look down there I'm sure something has to be there, even though I can see it from up here and there's nothing down there". "Mind as well give it a go" She crouched low to the ground, her left hand resting on the ground her fingers spread out, "Here I go!" with those words she launched off of the ground as she sprang forward flipping through the air a couple of times before landed down into the Great Maw.

*Great Maw*

Okay let's see here hmm…" she pressed her left index finger against her bottom lip as she pondered, She started to walk along a straight path she set for herself having a feeling that if she just kept walking something would happen for sure. "I know a clue of some sort will make itself all I gotta do is keep walking". As she pressed on her path to discovery rocks began tumbling down the side of the cliff on the left side of her; she paused for a moment as she noticed more of the falling and the area beginning to shake. "What the heck is going on here… *Gasp* I knew it this is it this is the clue. She jumped up and down happily giggling at the sheer delight of the fact she finally made some progress, and that she was probably the first to do so. A few feet away from her a light protruded from the wall it shined out in the shape of a large square. That next moment the rock that was marked in the square of light disappeared revealing some type of lab. "What in the world is this place, why is everything all white". Yuffie stared at the room from the outside scanning as much as she could from there, not wanting to just rush right in and possibly end up in a trap of some sorts. As her brown eyes shifted from left to right they stopped and focused on a giant gold and bronze insignia on the upper wall above a blue door further into the room atop of some stairs.

The insignia was the design of a strange E; Yuffie has never seen this symbol before she has seen the nobodies' symbol and the heartless but this one is completely different from them. "What is that E what does it stand for…well I'm not gonna find out by standing around here. And with that and in a quick burst, she dashed forward attempting to enter the strange room., " Ahh!" the sound of a weird electric like crackle and the sound of Yuffie's cry of pain filled the hollow canyon the sounds echoing all around, as she was repelled by a strong barrier.; she hit the ground landing flat on her ass with a hard thump, her head tilted down and her left eye closed shut, she winced from the pain as she rubbed her rear with her right hand. "Wha...what the hell happened?" She had an confused expression on her face as she threw her head up to face the room again, but to her dismay the room was no longer there, it was just wall again as if nothing was ever there.

She gasped in shock as she couldn't believe that the room had vanished from site so quickly, but before she could wallow in her discontent her attention was drawn to the ground in front of her as neo heartless began to spawn in front of her, she got stood up slowly, as the tall and slight build creatures stood in front of her, it was about 10 standing before her, "I better do something quick I don't wanna lose the location of this room so". As she thought to herself about what to do to keep a tab on this place she, reached into her tool bag on her left leg and pulled out a gold kunai with a red light on the handle of it. She hurled the kunai past the heartless and into the wall where the door was moments ago, making sure she marked the spot so she could return with the others later. "Alright you guys wanna play well fine lets have some fun". She reached into her bag again and quickly pulled out a long and curved black blade, holding it in her right hand she did a quick motion and the blade opened up turning into a giant windmill shuriken. After equipping herself with her weapon she jumped back giving herself some distance from the heartless.

"You guys are in big trouble because now you're dealing with the great Yuffie Kisaragi! " a cocky smile formed on her face as she begin to bounce in place stepping off one foot onto the other. As she got on the ready more of the same heartless started spawning around her the numbers being about 40 now, she only smile in delight as she thought about the fun she was gonna have wiping all of them out. "Come on all of you show me what you guys are capable of, I sure hope your worth it" As if they were responding to her call out the tall heartless all started dashing right for her, their arms pulled to their sides and their hands opened wide their claws extended and their yellow eyes glow bright with a lust for a heart.

* * *

Reacting quickly as the heartless closed the distance, Yuffie struck out at the first one of the litter that came too close for her liking, skewering it immediately, the heart it had captured flying free as the creature faded into nothingness. Not wasting a bit of motion, she quickly became a grandiose flourish of spins and strikes, taking down one heartless after another, though they seemed insistent on coming.

Even with this being the case, Yuffie still held a smirk across her face.

"This is going to be easier than I thought!" she proclaimed as she went to attack another of the heartless. She found herself having to eat her words near immediately, however, when the heartless she attacked seemed to phase just out of range of her attack at an alarming speed, the movement alone taking her completely by surprise, before leaping forth feet first, its feet barely missing her abdomen as she spun aside, only to find herself blindsided by the attack of yet another heartless from the side which almost caused her to lose her footing.

"So much for easy..." she thought through a grimace, gripping her giant shuriken a bit more tightly."So, you've gotten faster, huh? Well, I'm not known as the great *ninja* Yuffie for nothing!", she declared, her eyes focusing on yet another heartless which had lunged forth to try to attack her, this one using its claws. Within the blink of an eye, she brought her shuriken to the front of her, guarding against the blow and shoving the heartless onto the ground. Before it could recover and before any of the other several heartless around her could make a move, Yuffie quickly focused her energies into her shuriken, the power she was generating becoming visibly apparent as her shuriken garnered a brilliant orange glow, a fierce wind picking up, centering around her, pushing the gang of heartless back. As they struggled to keep their footing, Yuffie suddenly went on the move. With a cry of "Flare Divide!!" Yuffie dashed a blazing, straight line through a large number of them, leaving the ground beneath her scorched in her wake.

She came to a stop and turned, a grin across her face showing her pride in her handiwork as she watched the already immense number of heartless grow even more so. "You keep coming, I keep dropping you!" she vowed as she rubbed her thumb across the tip of her nose in an overconfident manner. She began focusing her energies once more. Just as she prepared herself to unleash another new technique, some of the heartless again began to move in such an erratic manner, their movements so quick, that she lost her focus, stopping instead to take notice of where they went as they seemed to disappear and reappear to and fro.

Then she felt a car slam into her side.

Or at least, this is what it felt like when two of the heartless that she thought she had been keeping track of slammed into her side, sending her tumbling and rolling violently, coming to a stop in a most ungraceful manner, her tumbling slowing as she reached the canyon wall, leaving her upside down, her shuriken a ways in front of her. Shaking the dizziness and ignoring the ringing in her ears from her abrupt trip across the canyon floor, Yuffie righted herself, resting on one knee as she watched the heartless move, trying to predict where they would come from as they moved. She brought her hand up, rubbing away a bit of blood that was sliding a trail down her face from her forehead.

*Focus, Yuffie, focus!*, she willed herself as she crawled forward and grabbed hold of her shuriken again. Angry more at herself for being caught off-guard by the heartless than at the heartless themselves, Yuffie's energies spiked once more, though this time, her shuriken took on a cerulean glow. This time, she took to the sky, leaping high above the mass of heartless. Somersaulting a few times as she went higher and higher still into the air, she came to a stop, her arms and legs spread as she zeroed in on a single spot left on the ground near the center of the mass of heartless. With a determined yell, she tossed the frost magic-imbued shuriken directly into that spot where it stuck in the ground on one of its four points, flashing once before an explosion of ice overtook the canyon, sending dozens of heartless flying here and there, some of them being defeated, others simply flipping through the air haphazardly.

The point on the ground where Yuffie had planted the shuriken had been covered by a sharp spike of ice that rose a ways off the ground. Yuffie's shuriken itself was blown back into the air towards her, which she anticipated as she began to descend from the sky, catching it firmly in her grasp and tucking into a ball, immediately thereafter disappearing. She reappeared near one of the heartless that was busy flailing through the air, slicing it in two. The moment she sliced through that one, she vanished and reappeared near another, doing the same to it, and another, then another still. This repeated until she destroyed a good half of the heartless that had been thrown skyward and weren't destroyed in the process, then she vanished once more, reappearing above a heartless that was falling over the spike of ice the shuriken had formed.

She tossed her shuriken with as much force as she could manage, impaling the heartless through the torso and sending it flying downward towards the spike even more quickly, the force of it hitting the spike actually being enough to not only obliterate the heartless that the shuriken had impaled on the way down, but to break the ice all the way through to the center, causing it to crack, then completely shatter into small shards by the time she came down to land, pulling her shuriken from the ground. She spun once; clearing the ice in the air away from her with a quick force of wind she made with her shuriken, then faced the heartless the attack left her with as she breathed heavily, her attack causing her to use most of her energy.

The good news? Her attack had worked its effect. She had defeated scores upon scores of heartless.

The bad news? There were still heartless there, and more were appearing.

Worse still, her lack of energy was showing visibly on her now, as she staggered slightly where she stood.

"Damn it.", she cursed under her breath, her breathing haggard as she struggled to remain on her feet... "This could be bad..."

As if on cue, the heartless that surrounded her began to close in on her in a slowly tightening circle. She felt, for once, that her overconfidence might have made her bite off more than she could chew.

* * *

"Hm....this seems oddly familiar."

This was the murmured utterance of a lone figure that stood atop the Cliffside of the canyon overlooking the Great Maw. He could hear the sounds of a fierce battle being fought. As he looked out at the environment around him, trying to pinpoint where in the canyon the battle was taking place, he felt a fluctuation in the air. At this, the figure nodded slightly as he crossed his arms. "Just like old times." he said as he scanned the area as thoroughly as he could, already knowing what said fluctuation meant. After a bit of looking about, he caught sight of a few heartless appearing in midair, dropping to the ground and making their way deeper into the Great Maw, towards the innermost Cliffside.

Without thinking twice about it, the figure took off after them, knowing that they were heading towards more heartless, which meant that whoever was unlucky enough to be the center of their attention would surely need assistance.

* * *

As they drew closer, some of them prepped themselves to pounce, which didn't go unnoticed by the young kunoichi, though because she was weak, the most she could do was brace herself as best as she could. She made a valiant effort to keep them at bay as they made their move, leaping at her from every which way, using her shuriken as a small wall to push back any of them that came from up high, and stepping about as best she could to avoid the ones approaching from below. As she stepped aside, letting one that rushed towards her legs rush past her, she was taken aback by yet another that leaped towards her head. Again bringing her shuriken up to hold it off, she found that to be a harder task than she'd hoped as the Shadow latched onto her shuriken, peering over it and straight at her. She gritted her teeth as she began to try to shake it off, but froze as she noticed the creature *open its mouth*, a vile smoke emanating from its maw. It was gathering dark energy for something. Though Yuffie didn't know what it was doing, her thoughts of *This won't end well...*, as well as every mental alarm in her brain telling her that she was in serious danger were enough for her.

She managed to shove the creature off, but not before it finished gathering the dark power it was gathering up, firing it in a black and white stream as it fell, which sailed straight towards Yuffie, who cried out in pain as it rammed straight into her abdomen, sending her sailing over the ground for quite a few feet before crashing onto her back. For a few moments, her body lay near motionless, save for her breathing. After a few moments more, with a pained cough accompanied by a slight patch of blood, she turned over, resting on her knees. *I'm a goner!!*, she cried mentally, shutting her eyes tightly as she rose to a squatting position, covering her head, just as the heartless that surrounded her once more leaped forth, springing to attack. Yuffie waited, fear clouding her mind as she waited for the darkness that was the heartless to overtake her--

--though that fear was replaced by confusion when she heard the rapid shuffling of feet and the unmistakable sound of a blade slicing through the heartless that she heard so often when defeating them herself with her favored weapon.

She opened her eyes, her gaze shifting from the ground up to see first a pair of black shoes with green accents. Not recognizing them, her gaze continued upward, catching hold of a pair of black cargo pants that, color aside, struck a chord with her memory, for some reason. As her gaze finished its upward gait, she noticed that her apparent savior was wearing black gloves similar to Sora's, and a black shirt with dark green sleeves.

"This brings back memories." the young man, who Yuffie now saw bore platinum hair, brown eyes, and a light brown skin color, said. She blinked for a moment, not being able to pinpoint who he was, though she was certain she had seen him before, somewhere. He brought his free hand down behind him, offering it to help her to her feet, the other hand grasping his weapon, a katana-like dark-toned key blade. "Can you stand up?" he asked her, his platinum hair blowing in front of his face as he glanced back towards her for a moment.

Yuffie's eyes went wide in realization as she took his hand. "Kei...?" she inquired, just to be sure as she got to her feet with his help. "Yeah.", the boy answered with a slight nod before adding, "It's been a long time, I know, but we can catch up some other time. First, we've got something to take care of." He quickly pulled an elixir from his pocket with his once again free hand and passed it to her, which she hurriedly opened and downed as the heartless continued to dance and to appear and close in around them. After a few moments more, she found herself feeling invigorated and ready to fight once more. She smiled at Kei gratefully. "Don't thank me until we're out of this mess, Yuffie." he said before she could speak, as if he'd read her thoughts.

She simply nodded in response, readying her shuriken again as Kei raised his onyx colored, katana-like key blade to his side.

* * *

After a long, tiring trial, the dark-skinned key blade wielder and the young kunoichi had finally defeated the last of the heartless that had spawned, and thankfully, as steadfast as they were about coming before, they seemed to have finally come to a stop. Yuffie, for her part, was more thankful than Kei was; having had to fight off more denizens of the darkness than she'd cared to count.

With a wave of his weapon, the key blade the boy was holding dissipated in a flash, the only traces of it having been there for but a moment being wisps of black smoke, signaling that the key blade, much like the one Riku had wielded before him at one point, was a darkness bearing weapon. He began to trudge away from Yuffie, who put away her shuriken and jogged after him. "Kei, waaait!" she wailed comically as she grabbed hold of his hand upon catching up to him. He stopped and looked at her, then looked down at her hands which held his own, causing her to quickly release her hold, a sheepish grin coming over her features for but a second. "I wanted to thank you." she grinned.

Kei shrugged his shoulders, and then moved to sit against the wall of the canyon. "You're welcome.", he replied as he drew one of his legs nearer to his torso where he sat, his arm resting lazily over his knee as he closed his eyes, only to open them again as Yuffie plopped down beside him. She smiled a friendly smile at him once more as a bit of a blush overtook her cheeks. "Seriously..." she spoke quietly, shyly, "...I could've bit the big one out there, and I almost did...so, thanks."

Kei could tell that she was sincere, and that just saying what she had took quite a bit of courage, which also told him that she obviously still had an issue or two with pride. *Same old Yuffie.*, he thought, a bit of a smirk crossing his features. Little did he also know that she had at that moment made up her mind to stick by him until she could save him in return. "It's alright, really.", he nodded. "Glad to help out an old friend." Yuffie's hand touched his shoulder gently for a moment after he answered her. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Kei raised an eyebrow at that.

"You had a cell phone on you this entire time?", he asked her jokingly. "Yeah," she responded, "Doesn't everybody?"

"So, you could have *called* the others to help you this whole time? I came for nothing?"

Yuffie pouted playfully at that. "Did you really think I would have spent my last few minutes dialing a number on my cell phone?"

"Point taken.", Kei relented, shrugging his shoulders and grinning a bit. Yuffie playfully shoved him before starting to dial up the rest of her friends on her cell. "You know....", she started, glancing at him, "...you've got a bit of explaining to do, like where you've been, and what you're doing here now, when the others get here."

"Oh, I know.", Kei nodded. "I'll explain everything when everyone's here." A nod from Yuffie as her response before she turned her head away, chatting quietly into her cell. Kei, for his part, leaned his head back against the wall of the canyon where they sat, closing his eyes as he tried to clear his head.

A few moments later, he felt a slight nudge at his side. Opening his eyes, he lowered his gaze to turn towards Yuffie. "They're on their way.", she informed him as she did so, to which he responded by nodding his head.

He then looked at her and, thinking back on what he had witnessed of her battle prowess as he watched her fight off the mass of heartless before he'd intervened, found himself marveling at how she could have so much power.

Yuffie herself was blushing as he looked at her. "Hey, it's impolite to stare, ya know!", she mock pouted, which in turn forced the silver-haired man to look to his front once more. "Sorry...", he responded, "...but I'm just amazed at your level of skill is all."

This caught Yuffie's ears, and she gave a smirk, her usual prideful demeanor showing again as Kei continued talking. "Those techniques were quite powerful. I can't imagine just how much it must have drained you to use them subsequently like that, then to keep yourself standing, trying to fight after doing so shows some guts."

Yuffie found herself feeling a bit awkward, being so freely complimented, but, being who she was, she refused to let that show. "But of course!", she piped up, "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Oh, I dunno...", came Kei's sarcastic reply, a smirk on his face as he poked at her, "...we've only heard it from you a billion times before today." His expression changed to that of a smile, the sarcasm leaving his voice as he kept speaking. "I don't think it's easily forgotten, especially when someone sees a display of power like that. The heartless will think twice before attacking you again, I'm sure."

Kei's compliments boosted her already inflated-as-it-was ego, though she humbled herself for a moment, a grin crossing her face. "And what about *you*, mister? Huh?", she prodded, her finger poking his shoulder gently, putting a bit of emphasis on her words as she decided to try to turn the tables on him, if for no other reason than to get rid of that awkward feeling she had. "You handled yourself pretty darn well back there, if I had to say so, and I'd say that someone leaping into a suicidal situation like that to save me was pretty brave." A pause before the silver-haired boy chuckled. "Is the all-powerful Yuffie giving someone else praise?", he mocked. "Yeah, yeah, enjoy that while you can, bucko.", the kunoichi snickered, shoving him playfully.

"Well, thanks. I'm pretty sure that any of your other friends would have done the same for you, too.", the boy replied. Yuffie nodded. "Yeah, especially Sora.", she said, laughing softly. "That kid will go to any lengths for his friends." The boy ran a hand through his silver locks, looking skyward. "Wouldn't we all...", he murmured in response.

Hearing what sounded almost like a hint of sadness in her friend's voice, Yuffie tapped his shoulder once, giving him a reassuring smile, which he couldn't help but return in kind.

"Hey! There she is! Over there!", a voice yelled; Sora's voice, the two of them asserted, hearing multiple footfalls behind it. They looked over to see Sora approaching in a jog, with his friends Donald and Goofy close behind, as always. Right alongside them were Sora's Destiny Island companions, Riku and Kairi, with the rest of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, coming up a ways behind them. Yuffie and Kei pulled themselves to their feet as Sora and the others ahead stopped a ways in front of them. Kei gave a grin as he looked over the people he'd become friends with a long while ago.

*Friends I've fought together with...*, he thought, with a glance at Leon, Cloud, Tifa and Aerith, *...and friends I've fought against...*, his thoughts persisted as he glanced at Sora. He then looked to the big, burly man with a gun mounted on his arm, he brought up the rear of the group, along with another man, a slender man adorned in a striking red cape, a gun of his own holstered to his side. Beyond them, three strikingly beautiful girls who looked to be in their late teens; one of them bearing long, blonde hair and green eyes bearing a swirling design in them, another bearing short, brown hair, her eyes dually colored, and the third bearing even shorter, near boyish, dusky brown hair and red eyes; *all* of them bearing their respective weapons close to them, *all* scantily clad. *...and then there are apparently some new faces I've yet to meet.*, the silver-haired boy thought with a slight smirk. "It's about time you all made it!", Yuffie teased the group, her voice pulling Kei out of his thoughts.

Kei remained still as Yuffie began to stride over to greet them properly. She then stopped, looking back at him for a moment before giving him something of a frown, which confused him, before walking over to him and grabbing hold of his arm, pulling him towards the group, her utterance of "C'mon, you big goof! You know us! We won't bite!", earning a couple chuckles from a few people in the group, as well as a few confused looks. As Yuffie pulled him forward and he came to a stop, finding himself facing Sora, the now fellow Key blade wielder looked at Kei quizzically for a moment. "Have we...met before...?", the brown-haired boy asked, scanning the silver-haired male in front of him over. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he definitely recognized him. He just didn't know from where.

Leon, for his part, having recognized him, had moved to the back of the group and pulled out his cell phone, beginning to tap in numbers on it rapidly. Not knowing just what exactly Cloud had gotten himself into, he figured this was news worthy enough for him to come as quickly as he possibly could, once he found out what he needed to know.

Kei laughed softly, realizing that he'd been silly for being nervous, considering he'd met most of them before, then eased up as he spoke to Sora. "Come on, man...don't tell me you've forgotten me already." Bringing a hand to his chin in thought, he snapped his fingers after a moment. "This should help.", Kei nodded, before stepping back and raising his hand, willing his katana-like, onyx-colored key blade forth. When the cloud of darkness about the weapon dissipated and everyone could see it clearly, realization set in for those he'd met before, though not more clearly for any of them outside of Sora himself, who remembered clearly having to fiercely battle his friend, the confrontation fresh in his mind as the memories assailed him.

"...Kei...?", he inquired, to which the man nodded, smiling as he again caused the weapon to dissipate. "Yup.", he answered. "It's good to see you again." He turned his gaze towards the group, addressing the ones he'd made the acquaintance of in the past, adding, "All of you." , before addressing the people he had yet to meet, adding "...and it's nice to meet everyone I don't know. As you heard, my name is Kei. Kei Mikado." The group responded with proper greetings and waves as Kei continued, looking to Yuffie, then back to Sora. "I believe I owe an explanation for my sudden reappearance, as well as why I'm here now." A pause, then a sigh from the older boy as he crossed his arms.

"Well, it goes like this...", he started, but found himself interrupted by Leon walking up from the rear. "Hold that thought.", he said as he approached, pointing towards the sky, causing everyone to look up to see a figure rapidly descending into the canyon that was Great Maw, a faint, blue glow surrounding him as he landed a ways behind the group in a kneeling position, his spiky, blonde hair and white shoulder armor and shirt a stark difference from the rest of his black gear as he stood up, the glow subsiding. He staggered a bit as he stood completely to his feet, making his way slowly towards Leon, his slightly tattered outfit being a sign that he had been in an altercation. "Sorry I'm late.", Cloud Strife, Ex-SOLDIER, said.

Leon chuckled a bit. "Even like that, you just have to be dramatic.", he quipped. "That's Cloud.", Aerith remarked, making her way over to him, beginning to focus on some of her healing magic in an effort to aid him. Cloud, seeing Aerith, averted his gaze, the return of his old friend, Zack, as well as what exactly that meant in regards to Aerith, ran through his mind. Noticing this, Aerith focused her efforts first on healing him. She'd ask him about what was on his mind later, she reasoned, though she knew that him telling her right off the bat would be a stretch, him being who he was.

Leon turned back towards Kei, shrugging his shoulders. "Alright, we're all ears.", he stated, crossing his arms. The young man nodded, then cleared his throat. "As those of you who don't know me have probably surmised...", he began, "...this isn't the first time I was here. The first time I was here was when I met Sora and the others, and at that time..." A pause as he started to pace slowly back and forth in front of the group. "...at that time, my sister, Aria, was with me. She and I were alone for the longest time. We did what we could to help Leon and the others battle against the heartless from the background without their knowledge, until one day in particular where the heartless seemed a *lot* more determined to strike and take as many people as they possibly could."

A frown passed his face, but he went on. "There wasn't any end in sight, and, much like Sora had witnessed before in that now-legendary battle where he'd defeated 1,000 of them by himself, the Great Maw was filled with them. Everyone was doing their part to try and bring the situation under control as quickly as possible. That's when Cid found out that they were spawning from beneath the Radiant Garden, in the secret facility. The mechanism that created them had been activated. By whom, we didn't know. All we knew was that we needed to get everything under control. Almost everyone present here pitched in during that battle."

Kei looked skyward as he reminisced for a moment. "And...Some others that aren't here with us today, who had to go back to their own worlds. They have to be thanked, too." Yuffie, who was watching and listening closely, noticed the look in his eyes and recognized it: It was the look of someone that had been contending with loneliness for a long time. She felt a pang of sympathy for him as he went on. "By the end of the battle, we'd been victorious, but it wasn't without cost...and that cost was...my sister, Aria.", he explained, one of his hands curling into a fist as the memory of the Dancer heartless swarming about her lifeless body as her heart ascended heavenward plagued his mind.

Those listening, however, with the exception of a stalwart few, felt his pain, especially seeing as most of them had gone through the same thing themselves with their world at one point or another. He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts again before going on, gathering himself before he dared to speak again. "I gave in to the power of darkness. I almost let it consume me entirely, all for my sister's sake." A sigh as he looked at one of his hands, then went on. "I'd learned that someone with a strong enough heart that had been attacked by the heartless could possibly be saved, provided their will was strong enough that a Nobody could be born from what was left of them after the heartless claimed their hearts. I searched all over, finding out what I could. Eventually, I came back here. Having been linked to darkness for as long as I have been, I felt a change occurring here. I can't explain it, but...it's like the force of darkness itself is getting stronger around here."

"Ha, I could've told you that...", Yuffie remarked, remembering the odd powers and actions the once measly Shadows had performed while battling her, to which Kei nodded in response. He sighed, then looked towards everyone else. "I think that about covers it up to this point. Anything else you might need to know?"

"Yeah, actually.", Yuffie chirped, poking his shoulder. "What's with that weapon? It's a key blade, isn't it? So why does it look more like a blade than a key, even more so than some of the ones I've seen Sora or Riku use?"

Kei blinked confusedly. He hadn't been expecting that one. "Well, I guess I'm just lucky.", he chuckled, remembering the large key blade that Sora used when battling him that looked, fittingly, just like a key. "Uh-huh...", was the young ninja's response, followed by a slight snort. She'd hoped he would give a more elaborate response than that, as she and everyone else knew that there likely was more to it than that. He shrugged his shoulders casually, then looked to Leon. "Does that answer everything for you?"

**This chapter was sort of large but thats okay, next chapter is where the story really begins, a new enemy makes its existence known, check it out, thanks for taking the time out to read this chapter look out for the next one. p.s since this story takes place 3 years after kh2 kei and his sister are met 2 years after the event. and certain characters under went changes besides obvious major increases in power.  
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**read it and review i suppose.  
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